Frustrated with Salesforce? Has HubSpot caught your eye? In this blog, we unpack the features of HubSpot and Salesforce, letting you know if the grass really is greener on the other side.
So, you’re thinking of replacing Salesforce but you’re not sure if HubSpot can meet your needs. While it’s true that Salesforce has long been seen as the safe choice for businesses, HubSpot is far from being the scrappy underdog.
As of January 2022, 128 000, companies in over 120 countries use HubSpot to grow their business. HubSpot’s CRM platform includes separate marketing, sales, operations, CMS and service solutions — known as Hubs. While each Hub is powerful in its own right, subscribing to HubSpot’s full suite gives you an integrated, all-in-one business solutions platform.
As HubSpot’s many case studies reveal, there’s no shortage of companies finding success on the platform. Software provider Trello, for example, has leveraged HubSpot’s content and marketing automation to increase organic traffic by 40%. On the growth front, wellness provider Stella used HubSpot’s tools to boost their revenue by €10 million.
HubSpot’s meteoric rise and clever solutions put it on even footing with Salesforce. Business leaders who know Hubspot solely as a marketing tool may be wondering how Hubspot can replace Salesforce, but the truth is it’s an all-in-one platform for growth. We discuss this myth, along with others, in our article Mythbusting: HubSpot vs Salesforce.
Considering HubSpot’s many successes, instead of asking whether the platform is a fitting replacement for Salesforce, it might be better to ask — ‘what are the business benefits of moving from Salesforce to HubSpot?’
How can Hubspot replace Salesforce:
Business benefits
Let’s compare the features of Salesforce and HubSpot to uncover the potential business benefits of replacing your Salesforce CRM. We’ll start with the first question that everyone asks — is there a difference in cost?
Salesforce and HubSpot costs
The nifty table below shows what you would be paying for each HubSpot Hub. While HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales and Service Hubs start with a free tier for small businesses, their paid offerings scale up to the Enterprise level. The table prices reflect Enterprise-level services and assume that 50 people will use your CRM solution.
The table makes it clear that Salesforce will cost you more — a lot more.
When looking at their sales solution, Salesforce will cost you $18,000 more per year — $90,000 in total — compared to HubSpot’s Sales Hub ($72,000).
But surely Salesforce’s superior breadth of features justify the platform’s expensive cost? After all, you get what you pay for, right?
Let’s get into that.
Overall features
Compared to HubSpot, Salesforce is richer in features, add-ons and customisability. But this comes with increased complexity that limits user accessibility.
(P.S. HubSpot has their own integrations library for those of you looking to seamlessly add your favourite solutions).
Conversely, HubSpot is designed to be as user-friendly as possible. By emphasising user experience, HubSpot seems to be saying, “what’s the point of having complex features if no one is going to use them?”
That’s not to say that HubSpot doesn’t have all the features you need to grow your business. As a modular platform, HubSpot can scale as your business does, providing you with the tools you need, when you need them.
For example, on the sales side, users benefit from features like pipeline management, sales analytics, sales automation and contact management. Marketing Hub offers analytics and automation for marketers, along with SEO tools and lead tracking and management. And your customer service team can use HubSpot’s CRM to manage team processes, provide live chat functionality and boost efficiency with help desk and ticket automation.
Adoption and ease of use
HubSpot has earned its reputation as the #1 product for marketers in 2020 and one of the leaders in the CRM space. It’s also loved by both admins and end-users, a key reason why it’s PC Mag’s top pick for the easiest CRM to use.
HubSpot’s focus on creating a quick to learn and the easy-to-master system helps you see ROI faster by eliminating onboarding pains. All of their Hubs were created in-house and with a unified codebase, creating a consistent user experience where tools work in concert with each other.
The same can’t be said for Salesforce. Despite having robust systems and powerful features, Salesforce takes time to learn and master. This complexity may mean that your teams aren’t getting the most of your investment.
Scalability
Can Salesforce and HubSpot’s services scale with your business?
Absolutely.
As your requirements grow alongside your business, getting the functionality you need is often as simple as upgrading your Salesforce or HubSpot account.
Salesforce’s high level of customisation helps you tailor the software to your needs. But HubSpot is catching up in this area. Their new Operations Hub gives you the ability to customise data flow, workflows and build bespoke automated processes.
Implementation and support
Salesforce plans promise a two-day response time through their help portal. Only top-tier plans have access to 24/7 phone support. HubSpot customers gain access to 24/7 phone support along with live chat, email and support tickets.
Both HubSpot and Salesforce boast lively and open communities that offer support. The HubSpot Academy provides resources and short courses that help you implement HubSpot, while Trailhead serves a similar role as Salesforce’s e-learning hub.
Should you replace Salesforce with HubSpot?
Salesforce is a tremendously powerful and useful platform in its own right, but the principal issue is that it’s hard to use.
For most marketers and salespeople who want to hit the ground running, HubSpot, on the other hand, offers wide-ranging capabilities that are easy to use and understand. More importantly, it can connect all of your marketing, sales, customer service and operational activity to ensure consistent and consolidated campaigns.
By comparing HubSpot and Salesforce, you should now have a better idea of what each platform offers and how they can benefit your business. Both CRM solutions are pack leaders, so whether you replace or keep will depend entirely on your business context.
Whatever your choice, we can help.
As an Elite HubSpot partner, Huble Digital has guided many companies through the process of moving from Salesforce to HubSpot. It’s our job to ensure you get the most out of the HubSpot CRM.
We’ll outline the process based on workshops, handle the migration (including moving and recreating any data, landing pages, emails, campaigns and workflows), launch your first campaign in HubSpot and much more. We’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt.
But more than anything — what you want is an end-to-end view of all of your marketing, sales, customer service and operational activity. And it starts with your CRM. As the centrepiece in modern business environments, it can have a significant impact on your business’ success.
In our free eBook, CRM is a mindset: Making Integrated
CRM Decisions, find out how you can unlock the potential of your CRM and achieve greater success.
Learn more about HubSpot CRM, and our Sales and CRM onboarding solutions.
